“The Women's Studies Conference is a great place to learn about the work being done to support women around Wisconsin and get plugged into a broader community.”

—Dace Zeps, Community Activist

“The ideas exchanged at this conference prompt positive personal change for the scholars and students in attendance. Graduate and undergraduate students receive much needed professional training and exposure to top scholars. Faculty whose teaching loads make scholarship a challenge receive much-needed and appreciated space to develop their scholarly work.”

—Michelle Parkinson, Chair, Women’s Studies Program, UW-River Falls

Gendered Planet: Ethics, Ecology, and Equity

Join us in considering the intersection of women’s gender and other social justice issues as we promote ethical decisions and actions that will create greater equity and sustainability for our planet and its beings. Participants will draw upon the range of perspectives on gender and social justice to examine the present and future for our planet.

Internationally known artist Lily Yeh is the conference keynote speaker. This is a trailer for her The Barefoot Artist Documentary which will also be shown at the conference. Learn more about the film and Lily Yeh at barefootartists.org»

This year's theme—Gendered Planet: Ethics, Ecology, and Equity

The 2014 Wisconsin and Midwest Women’s and Gender Studies conference will bring together academics, teachers, students, community members, artists, activists, and others from across the disciplines to share emerging and effective research, scholarly, educational, creative, and organizational practices/processes as they relate to the fields of Ecofeminism, Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, LGBTQ Studies, and Sexuality Studies, especially as they as they intersect with such areas as: Ethnic Studies, Disability Studies, International Studies, Poverty Studies, Peace Studies, and Environmental and/or Sustainability Studies, and other inter-disciplines.

Special events

Blanket Statement
Conference Exhibition, Ames Gallery, 3rd floor University Center
Artist Karen Goulet shares a series of art quilts/blankets with "environment" as the center theme. She has focused on some current issues being contended with in Native American communities today, while reflecting on history contributing to those issues.

Lily Yeh Book Signing, 5:30pm Friday after KeynoteAwakening Creativity: Dandelion School Blossoms
Lily Yeh, internationally artist and social pioneer, through vibrant color photography and her words, shows the reader the metamorphosis of a school environment for migrant workers’ children who, but for this charity, would receive no education. Lily engages middle-school students, their teachers, and local elders in converting a barren factory space in Beijing, China, into the Dandelion School’s colorful, mosaic-covered youthscape. The book is a testament to participatory process of artistic expression that changes a distressed community and offers an inspiring model for educators around the world.

Poetry Slam
Join in at 8pm Friday evening October 17th for a Poetry Slam led off by performing artist Kate Wirsing. Bring your own creative works and plan to participate.

Conference history

The Midwest and Wisconsin Women’s and Gender Studies Conference carries on a decades-long tradition of bringing students, faculty, staff, and community activists together to build a shared learning community focused on women and gender. The first conference took place in April of 1976 at UW-Madison. Led by UW System librarians, the theme of that conference was ‘Development of Resources for Women’s Studies,’ and included presentations from presenters across the UW-System and other midwestern institutions of higher education. The participants focused on library and academic program development, fundraising, and curricula sharing.

Since 1989 the UW System Women’s Studies Consortium (WSC) has collaborated with UW System Women’s and Gender Studies Programs and related programs at Wisconsin’s liberal arts colleges to offer the annual Wisconsin Women’s Studies Conference. In 2006 the WSC started collaborating with the UW System Inclusivity Initiative for LGBTQ people and their allies to expand the program of the conference, and in recent years the growing conference has expanded beyond the region with participation from across the Midwest and beyond. In 2014 the cosponsors include all 14 UW System Women’s and Gender Studies programs and departments as well as liberal arts colleges and our first cosponsor from beyond Wisconsin; Winona State University. Together we offer the 38th Wisconsin Women’s Studies and 9th LGBTQ Conference and continue to sustain and grow our women’s and gender studies learning community that has evolved into the Wisconsin and Midwest Women’s and Gender Studies Conference.

The historiasn among us may be interested in exploring the growth of the field as represented by our past conference programs. Most of them can be found here»

This conference is sponsored in large part by a Growth Agenda for Wisconsin Grant. The Growth Agenda for Wisconsin Grants Program seeks to fund projects that are bold in their vision, designed to transform programmatic or institution-wide practices, and have the potential to be sustained beyond the scope of the grant funding. For more information on the Growth Agenda for Wisconsin, see wisconsin.edu/acss/grants/growthagenda